Selden Barns Venue

Selden Barns is a wonderful, picturesque venue and has built an excellent reputation by offering outstanding customer service. Our passionate staff strive to ensure that your wedding will be the most memorable day of your lives.

We also guarantee you will have ’exclusive use’ as we hold only one wedding a day, so you will be the only Bride & Groom at our venue.

Yes. We can hold a date for 7 days to enable you to consider your options, and check availability for either church or registrar. During this time, please ask as many questions as you wish. It is important that you are 100% happy with us as a venue for your big day. It is a responsibility we will not be taking lightly!

We are a family-friendly venue, but we ask that parents take full responsibility for their children at all times. They should not be left unattended at any time. If a number of children are attending, you may wish to organise a creche facility or some entertainment. This could be a magician or children’s entertainer. We have plenty of space for inflatables and bouncy castles, but they will need to be supervised.

Our events team are available to answer any queries. They are usually in the office Monday to Friday, 9 am to 5 pm. You can also speak with Rachel, our Wedding Co-ordinator. She is usually available in the office Monday, Thursday and Friday, 9 am to 5 pm. If Rachel is unavailable, please leave a message and she will return your call as soon as she can. Her email address is info@www.seldenbarns.co.uk

For the civil service at Selden Barns, 2 pm is the ideal time for the ceremony with pre-reception starting after at 2:45 pm.

For a church service, which is about 1 hour in length, we advise going straight to the church, and scheduling a ceremony time that will enable you to arrive at Selden Barns at 2:45 which is ideal for pre-reception.

Experience shows that 2 pm is the best civil ceremony time as this will give enough time in the morning for you to get ready with your Bridesmaids and Mum (and a glass or two of Prosecco!). Getting ready always takes longer than you think as the photographer will want to photograph every item before you put it on!

If you are having a traditional wedding with wedding breakfast and evening party with entertainment, with pre-reception drinks and canapes at 2:45 pm, there will be adequate time for the larger group photographs to get done before sitting for the Wedding Breakfast.

We have found with ceremonies held earlier in the day that it can be a very long day for guests to be kept entertained.

If, however, all your guests are attending day and evening, a later ceremony time is acceptable being 3 pm to 4 pm. Please bear in mind that during winter months, with the days getting darker earlier, a later ceremony time will compromise the time for external photography in our wonderful grounds.

Our Wedding Co-Ordinator will be with you from the early planning stage right through to the key events of your special day. On the day, our Operations Manager and event team, who are experienced in running weddings, will guide you professionally and seamlessly through your event.

Yes, we only hire the rooms to your wedding guests. Most of our Brides and Grooms take all of the rooms and then allocate and charge their guests accordingly so that they have control over who stays and joins them for breakfast the following morning. If you do not take all of the rooms then they will be available to hire by any of your guests.

The Dressing Suite will be available for the Bridal Party from 11.30 am.

Your guests can then begin to arrive from 1p m. Their rooms are guaranteed to be ready to check in by 3 pm, but in reality, the last room is usually finished cleaning by around 1 pm, giving time for people to change in their room prior to the wedding ceremony at Selden Barns, recommended at 2 pm. (Remember if it is a church wedding, guests will go straight to the church and not check in until they arrive after the ceremony) Check out by 10 am the following morning.

Due to the number of weddings we have at Selden Barns, this is only possible if we do not have a wedding on the day before yours. We can, however, let you know 2 weeks in advance whether the rooms are available to you.

We provide a list of local accommodation with helpful information such as telephone numbers, distance from Selden Barns, and the number of rooms they have.

Unfortunately, Selden Lane is not suitable for double-decker buses as there are overhanging trees and large coaches and extended limousines are not able to turn around as Selden Lane is a dead end single track road. Limousines can also ground on the uneven road surface.

Due to our licence, all alcohol consumed on the premises must be supplied by our bar. We do, however, offer concessionary rates (just above cost price) for pre-reception drinks, table wines and toast drinks. Within this price we include our experienced Bar staff to serve pre-reception and toast drinks as well as chilling and laying out of table wines.

We do have an Easel that can be located at the entrance of the venue for you to display your table plan. It is able to hold a large board or picture frame. Please ask for maximum size if you are arranging a plan that is professionally made.

If we are assisting with setup, a working table plan is required 2 weeks prior to the wedding for us to arrange the right number of tables but the final table plan to display and name place cards in table order can be supplied on the day.

We try to be flexible here at Selden Barn, but we do ask that you use one of our recommended suppliers for your wedding catering, as its one of the most important parts of the day & we like to assure we use caterers that offer both excellent service as well as excellent food. You will understand that it is our reputation as a venue that is at stake.

Due to our licence, all alcohol and drinks consumed on the premises must be supplied by our bar but we offer pre-reception drinks and table wines at reduced rates to our usual bar prices as well as Bar staff to serve the pre-reception drinks and toast drinks as well as chilling, uncorking and laying out of table wines.

You are welcome to use other suppliers for decorations, entertainment, photo booth, etc and we do have a number of very good suppliers in our wedding contacts page who know our premises and business very well.

Please be aware though that if you arrange your own entertainment, such as a DJ, Band or String Quartet etc. we have a noise limiter that they must be made aware of and we will require a copy of their Public Liability Insurance, along with proof that all electrical equipment has been Portable Appliance Tested (PAT). This should be supplied at least 2 months prior to the wedding. Unfortunately, anyone who fails to provide this will be unable to play at Selden Barns as it can invalidate our insurance.

Yes, we have several very good local taxi companies. However, with Selden Barns being a rural location it is necessary to book taxis well in advance or risk a very long wait or be disappointed on the day.

You may choose to arrange a minibus service for the end of the evening if a number of people are staying in hotels close by.

On the day your guests may bring gifts and cards. We are pleased to offer the use of a white table top “Post Box” free of charge for your guests to post their cards into on arrival. This along with any gifts can be locked into the Venue overnight though we recommend removing these to your room at the end of the evening.

Please be aware that your personal items and gifts are not covered on our insurance policy, therefore we recommend you arrange your own insurance to protect against loss or damage to any possessions, gifts or monies whilst at Selden Barns.

Time and time again, Brides & Grooms comment on how the grounds look beautiful like their wedding was the first one we had ever done. This is a testament to our hardworking team of staff, but to assist with this we do have some restrictions.

Confetti

We love confetti but kindly ask that your guests only use the biodegradable variety as this is better for the environment. Confetti cannons are allowed but must not be of the foil kind as this is extremely difficult to clear up. We have found that bubbles make a suitable alternative, though not on the dance floor as this can make it slippery.

Chocolate or Champagne Fountains

These can be permitted if a suitable floor covering is used underneath them to ensure no damage to carpets or decor.

Fireworks, Laser Displays or Naked Flame/Chinese Lanterns

We love fireworks but only from a reputable professional supplier who must supervise the display. Due to compliance with planning and environment agencies, and out of courtesy to our neighbours and local farming community, Selden Barns only allow the use of ‘low noise’ firework displays. These can be supplied by many local firework companies and all remnants must be collected by the company so as not to endanger surrounding livestock. We do not allow laser displays or Naked flame / Chinese lanterns due to surrounding livestock.

We try to be flexible here at Selden Barns, but we do ask that you use one of our recommended suppliers for your wedding catering, as it’s one of the most important parts of the day & we like to assure we use caterers that offer both excellent service as well as excellent food. You will understand that it is our reputation as a venue that is at stake.

There are facilities for disposing of cigarettes either at the front or rear of the venue. Smoking is not permitted inside the venue. This encompasses all internal areas of Selden Barns including bedrooms. Anyone found to have smoked in the room could be liable for a fine of up to £200, along with a fumigation charge of up to £100.

If you decide to proceed with a booking, we just ask for a £500 deposit to secure your chosen date. This is a non-refundable deposit if you change your mind, but the £500 does get deducted off your venue price & your chosen date may be changed at a later date should you wish. The rest of your payment schedule is below

9 months prior to your big day – payment required to bring you up to half of the Venue hire cost

2 months prior to your big day – The other half of the Venue hire cost is due

Yes, our next Open Day will be January 13th, 2019. The event starts at 11.00am and finsishes at 3.00pm. We will have a whole range of suppliers available for you to come and meet and also see the venue set up for a wedding.